Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’ Debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart
With his highly-anticipated fourth album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, rapper Kendrick Lamar has scored another No. 1 album on the Billboard 200.
According to Billboard, the album earned 295,500 equivalent album units making it the largest week for an album this year. It also marks the fourth consecutive time that the rapper has topped the chart.
The rapper announced the album in a tweet on April 18 in a tweet response from a fan that read, Kendrick Lamar, is officially retired. The response included a link to his website and a press announcement that detailed the name and release date of the album, May 13.
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Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers has marked the third straight week of landmark sales, with Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti debuting at No. 1 last week with 274,000 units and Future’s I Never Liked You with 222,000 the week before that.
Kendrick Lamar also recently announced an ambitious tour schedule with two months of dates across North America and a European leg featuring opening acts from his cousin, rapper Baby Keem and Tania Leone.
After a five-year hiatus, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers marks Kendrick’s return to music. The Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper’s last album, DAMN, topped the Billboard 200 for four weeks and was the No. 1 album of the year in 2017.
The new album is split into two parts, with each half featuring nine tracks. A non-album track, “The Heart Part 5,” dropped a week before releasing with a critically-acclaimed music video.
Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers continues to trend on social media. U.S. Rep Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) recently tweeted, “Art is healing. We all need healing during difficult times. The art that has been very helpful to me over the last week has been the new Kendrick Lamar album. Hip hop at its finest. I wish everyone beautiful healing, joy, learning, and love in your life.”
